Shrimp tempura waits for no one -- it gets soggy quickly. Serve as soon as the shrimp are lifted out of the pot and drained.

Vegetable oil for frying

For Dipping Sauce:
1/3 cup chicken broth
3 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon seasoned rice vinegar
1 teaspoon seasoned rice vinegar
2 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon minced and peeled fresh ginger

For Batter:
3/4 cup ice-cold water
1 cup cake flour, not self-rising
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 pound large shrimp, shelled, deveined, and butterflied

1. In 5-quart Dutch oven, heat 2 1/2 inches vegetable oil until temperature reaches 400 F on deep-fat thermometer.

2. Meanwhile, in small saucepan, combine broth, soy sauce, 2 tablespoons water, vinegar, sugar and ginger; heat to boiling over high heat. Boil 2 minutes. Strain through sieve into small bowl and keep dipping sauce warm.

3. Pour ice-cold water into medium bowl; sift flour, baking powder and salt into water. With fork, stir just until barely incorporated; a few lumps may remain.

4. Dip 4 shrimp at a time into batter to coat lightly. Allowing excess batter to drip off, add shrimp to hot oil and fry, turning once or twice, until coating is very pale golden, 1 to 2 minutes. With slotted spoon, transfer shrimp to paper towels to drain. Serve immediately with warm dipping sauce. Makes 4 main-dish servings.

For Beer-Batter Fried Shrimp:
1 cup beer

Prepare as above, omitting Step 2. In Step 3, omit baking powder and substitute 1 cup beer for water and proceed as directed. Serve shrimp with Tartar Sauce. Makes 6 first-course servings.

Each serving: About 309 calories, 12g total fat (2g saturated), 140mg cholesterol, 1,355mg sodium, 27g carbohydrate, 23g protein.